Back in 2000, a software engineer, Patrick Kolla, created the basis of a tool for dealing with spyware. This tool, later named Spybot Search and Destroy, was one of the first effective freeware apps for the removal of many kinds of adware and malware that were infecting PCs. Since then, millions of people all over the world have used it at one time or another. To this day, many people consider it an essential part of their PC defenses.

Patrick’s work on Spybot hasn’t stopped, and it’s been updated several times over the years. Today Spybot-S&D can repair or remove:

Bad registry keys

Winsock LSPs

ActiveX objects

Browser Hijackers

BHOs (Browser Helper Objects)

Tracking cookies

Trackerware

Homepage hijackers

Keyloggers

Trojans

Adware

Spyware

Rootkits

other kinds of malware

Here’s a screenshot of Spybot as it scanned my laptop yesterday.

Typically, I use Spybot as a secondary scanner, to catch things that my antivirus and other defenses have missed. However, the TeaTimer portion of Spybot can be installed to watch over your computer continuously in the background.

Another great feature of Spybot, is it’s ability to add immunizationsagainst some common weaknesses in Internet Explorer and other areas of your PC.

Spybot can be updated every time you use it, by clicking the update icon. Always check for new updates before running a scan.

I prefer to have most of the programs on my PC, set up as portable applications. I was happy to find that Spybot is also available as a portable app.

Spybot is one of those apps that have proved themselves over years and years of use. It’s always been free, and it’s probably saved millions of people headaches from re-installing their OS after an infection. It deserves to be highly recommended.

How many countries are there in the World? What are their names? Where are they located? What do their flags look like? If you really want to learn these details, Enigeo (freeware) is great way to learn them.

This program offers two different modes for learning: quiz mode and explorer mode. I have found it very challenging. The best I was able to get in the random country quiz was about 20%. That’s not surprising, considering that it’s been a long time since I studied these in grade school. I’m sure I’ll do much worse when it comes to flags and capitals.

The game will ask you the following types of questions: Name of the country, Capital of the country, Position on the map, and Flag of the country.

It’s a 3mb download and will run on Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7. This game is also available in 11 languages: English, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Polish, French, Swedish, Portuguese, and Russian.

Note: There are 192 countries in the United Nations. However, most people recognize two or three more, which include Kosovo, Taiwan and the Vatican. (source about.com)

[Windows Only] If you’re a regular on sites like Reddit, Digg or 4Chan, chances are high that you’ve heard of Imgur. Imgur is a free image hosting site, developed by Alan Schaaf, who was tired of the cluttered interfaces of other image hosting sites, and decided to create one of his own. Among various features of the site are galleries, on-site basic photo editing, anonymous uploads (you can also register), and a liberal photo retaining limit. A recent update also included a drag-and-drop feature for uploading pictures, following competition from new websites like min.us.

Imgur is awesome for screenshots. Well say, why? Because it provides a direct link to the image file, and the loading time is quick. Also, the service is free and there are no limits to how many images you can upload.

Last year, the screenshot application en vogue for its simplicity was tinygrab. Its working was simple. Install application. Press hotkey. Screenshot is taken, uploadeded to tinygrab’s server and a short url to the image is copied to the clipboard. But the catch was, tinygrab allowed only 10 screengrabs a day in its free plan.

Well, if there’s a problem, there’s probably an app for unsolving that problem. This time, that app happens to be Hyperdesktop. There’s no website, there’s no fee and there’s no quotas. The application works just like last year’s tinygrab, except for the fact that Hyperdesktop uploads to Imgur, and therefore, there are no limits to how many screenshots you take in a day.

As many of you have learned by now, not all free screensavers are created equal. Many times, free means that you have to install stupid toolbars, adware and other unwanted junk along with the screensaver. That’s not true of the ones at NewFreeScreensavers.

One of the nice features of these screensavers is that they now have settings to mute the sounds. Some of the screensavers also have a setting to include a small analog clock on the screen.

I’ve downloaded and installed several of the screensavers at this site and never had a problem with any of them. These screensavers are safe, totally free, and there are dozens more to check out once you visit.

The goo.gl extension for the Chrome web browser is a quick and easy way to create short URLs for sharing on social sites such as Twitter and Facebook. If you use the Chrome browser, this is something you’ll enjoy using.

Be sure to let us know if you have a favorite freebie you’d like to see posted here. Our comments (below) are always open to you.

I have been a Windows Live Mail user for a long time now, however, it looks like I am going to dump it and go for Thunderbird or maybe just use my iPod Touch to catch up on email from multiple accounts.

The latest version of Windows Live Mail which is included in Windows Live Essentials 2011, worked really fine for me for a while, however, it has become a pain in the posterior. I have 25 email accounts set up (don’t ask how I have that many, those aren’t even all) in it and it chimed well and downloaded all my messages without any trouble.

However, of late, whenever I start Windows Live Mail, my system (i7 processor/6GB RAM) becomes slow and crawls. This is annoying at best. I tried looking for solutions to the problem but couldn’t find any.

From my experience with Outlook, I am pretty sure that the problem is related to the disk storage. Outlook too used to crawl if the size of the PST file reached 2GB or higher (I am not sure about it now), but you could always fix the Outlook issue by creating a new storage file. That though is not the case with Windows Live Mail.

I absolutely love Windows Live Mail, but unfortunately I cannot seem to figure out how to fix the slowness it causes on the PC. I will continue looking at how to fix this issue and post updates when I come across them.

Do you use Windows Live Mail? Are you seeing similar issues when you have lot of email accounts or have tons of downloaded emails. Do let me know through your comments.

Right now, the people at NewFreeScreensavers have 10 new screensavers covering a variety of themes, which you can see below. The nature screensavers are slideshow screensavers, and the pictures from the 4 seasons, animals, and butterfly screensavers can be used as a wallpaper. In the settings for the screensaver, select Wallpaper to set those up.

I’m sure you can find plenty of other screensavers out there, but be careful to visit only safe websites when you are looking for them. As many of you have learned, not all free screensavers are created equal. Many times, free means that you have to install stupid toolbars, adware and other unwanted junk along with the screensaver. That’s not true of the ones at NewFreeScreensavers.

One of the nice features of these screensavers is that they now have settings to mute sounds. Some of the screensavers also have a setting to include a small analog clock on the screen.

I’ve downloaded and installed several of the screensavers at this site and never had a problem with any of them. These screensavers are safe, totally free, and there are dozens more to check out once you visit.

Once installed, the Weather Window app can be accessed by opening a new blank tab in Chrome and choosing the icon in the Apps section.

The main screen shows an open window with a simulated view of the current weather conditions. The first thing you’ll have to do is to choose your location. The new location tab is found at the top of the page. You can enter a location by zip code or city name.

Multiple locations can be added and will appear across the top of the page for easy access later. The tabs can be dragged and re-arranged as you wish.

On the right side of the weather window, you’ll see 4 icons. These represent Detailed Observations, Forecast, Weather Mapsand Cameras.

The Observations icon displays current conditions.

The Forecast icon displays a great deal of information. There are three tabs showing a summary, more forecasts and hourly forecasts.

The maps function displays some really cool looking weather maps. You can zoom in and out with your mouse scroll button. The map can also be animated to show the direction of the weather coming at you.

The camera function shows you current web cam images from weather stations close to you. In the settings, you can choose for one of these to be shown in the main weather window by default.

Need to quickly empty the Recycle bin and can’t find the Recycle bin icon on Windowsdesktop? MiniBin is a freeware utility which lets you manage Windows Recycle bin following a nifty little system tray icon.

Inbox2 is a desktop client that brings the social networks and email accounts under one roof. The social networks you can connect are Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and email services like Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail are also supported.

Be sure to let us know if you have a favorite freebie you’d like to see posted here. Our comments (below) are always open to you.